SOLDIERS
by Kaiousei
Summary: A little preNiblheim Zack and Cloud interaction ficlet. In spite of the fact his best friend is everything he wanted to be, Cloud wonders why he isn't the least bit jealous at all.


I started writing this in September or so, I think... but it's been sitting stale on my computer for far too long. Just a little Zack-and-Cloud interaction one-shot I... guess I forgot where I was going with it. So I decided I liked it too much just to leave it there, so here I post. Please don't ask me to finish, because it's not going to happen. I think it's just fine the way it is.

Enjoy?

Zack knew all along that there was something funny about the blonde-haired, green-eyed Cloud Strife. He was quiet, and slightly awkward in a way that told Zack that he wasn't _actually_ awkward… the way he spoke just made him seem that way.

He told Zack that he'd come to Midgar to become a member of SOLDIER, a statement that Zack found amusing, and Cloud looked almost hurt when the brunette laughed out loud. It was just a child's dream of becoming a hero that took him to that hell hole, and it had been the promise to a childhood friend that kept him there, too ashamed to go home and admit to everyone that he had failed.

So there he was, solemn, humble, and intimidated by the utter velocity that mediated life in the military.

And Zack chose to make the boy his friend, because he knew that he wasn't going to find anyone else.

"Come on, Cloud! Your posture is horrible! You can stand much cooler than that!"

Cloud just stared, dumbfounded, up at him. "…what?"

"Here, stand like this." Zack made a show of finding himself a new position to fall into, his feet apart and one knee bent, his weight resting on his back leg as he put his hands on his hips. "See?"

"Like this?" Cloud made a half-hearted attempt to copy Zack's pose.

"No!" Zack shouted, attracting the attention of several other soldiers mingling nearby. "Cooler! Cooler! Like me!"

Cloud just smiled, holding his pose. "I'll never be as cool as _you_ Zack." His tone may have been sarcastic, but Zack couldn't tell.

"Not at this rate, you won't!" Zack scoffed at the blonde who just watched him, amused. "That's why I am now making you my honorary apprentice! I'll make you cool, just you watch!"

Cloud couldn't take it anymore and he just laughed, falling out of Zack's 'cool pose' in the process.

And Zack couldn't help but feel as if he had succeeded in something.

.0.

Strange relationships came to those who built them within the confines of SOLDIER and the military. People accepted the fact that they would spend the rest of their lives killing people the Shinra wanted them to kill, and out of the situation came an introverted person. However, when given the opprotunity, they would get drunk and laugh about stupid things that everyone knew didn't matter anymore. Dirty gossip about women they would never have, bar wenches and such. Childish games for men who didn't know how to be men. Zack egged them on for a long time before they began making remarks about a certain shop keeper he had made friends with. After sitting silently and listening to the comments go on, he ended up getting in a fight and coming out on top in a matter of seconds.

Cloud, who had come to the bar with him and had been sitting silently off to the side, allowed himself to gawk openly.

Everyone knew that there was _something_ about Zack. He was cool and he was popular, but there was something else.

He was _special_.

It didn't surprise Cloud when he watched his friend ascend from being a member of the military to becoming SOLDIER, First Class. He deserved it, after all. Everyone knew it now - Zack was something special. Only the greatest made it into SOLDIER, not to mention _First Class._

And much to his own amazement, Cloud discovered he didn't feel jealous at all.

However, he felt that he should have. SOLDIER, First Class - that had been his goal all along. And, while crawling in his shadow, Cloud watched Zack scale the walls to defy logic and be well on his way to becoming the next Sephiroth.

He could have blamed Zack for out-shining him and ruining his chances. He could have hated Zack for being everything he himself had wanted to be... but he didn't. Somewhere deep down inside, Cloud _knew_ that there was no way he ever could have done what Zack did. There was no way he could have made it to First Class, even if he had made it into SOLDIER.

Instead, he just felt glad that he could be Zack's friend.

He smiled for him. He posed for him. He followed him, because Zack liked him. He was Zack's friend, and Zack repeated constantly that it would always be that way. For now, Cloud allowed himself to believe it.


End file.
